LIFE IN THE NOVITIATE
The fourth in a series of articles by Leo Coshan, describing his experiences testing his vocation in the Societas Verbi Divini (S.V.D. Society of the Divine Word)

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Greetings in the name of the Lord to all
my friends. 
After the novitiate, in the path to the priesthood (theordained priesthood) comes the scholasticate or training in the seminary. Although in my last article I did promise to set out some more on the life of our Founder would like to give you an insight into our life as students in the Divine Word seminary. First of all I would like to remind you that our founder, Father Arnold Jannsen, with Father Josef Freinademetz, one of the first SVD Missionaries to China, were beatified on Sunday October 19th last year during the year in which we celebrated the centenary of the founding of the Order, which, I would also remind you, is a missionary society. The novitiate, our testing time, ended on October 15th. Our general comrmmity retreat
in September served as our preparation for the first vows. It was a joint ceremony; our first proofession, the admission of two to the novitiate, and the centenary of the Order. Among the witnesses were my brother and his family There were fifty people present and the occasion was a great and joyful one.

In London we are members of (a) the community in residence and (b) students for the priesthood at the Missionary Institute of London. (a) As a Divine Word communty we live in two houses at Cricklewood. There are 13 of us: four resident priests, one of whom is still studying, and nine students or scholastics. We acquired the house during last summer. There is as yet quite a lot of work that needs doing to make our conditions habitable in a more permanent and settled way. But we are a very happy community. Here we study and live together, a room to each and jobs allocated in several ways. Firstly, we each have a particular responsibility; for example, one looks after the liturgy and is the sacristan, another is in charge of the transport, one looks after tIre garden ancl the tools, another doles out the
cleaning duties. Then, there are the jobs that are done in rotation: the cooking; the cleaning of the house and the washine up. The most interesting job in this category seems to be the reader. The man responsible for the reading of the day arranges the liturgy and leads in the office. He is allowed to improvise and build on the framework that we have in the celehration of the Eucharist. It is too soon for me to try out some of my ideas but the field is wide open and promising, Initiative is encouraged
and ours is a very outgoing community. I~esides the duties of the individual to the community we also engage in pastoral or apostolic work in the parish or beyond. This complements our academic learning and the experience is vital and exciting. Freedom is the keynote, motivated by love, that is, God's love for us and the next man who is our neighbour. Isn't that a marvellous way to live?
(b) As students for the ordained ministry (the priesthood} our activities are centred at the Missionary Institute, London, familiarly known as the MIL. The two main colleges, where lectures are held, are St. Joseph's, Mill Hill and St. Edwards, Totteridge; the one the home of the Mill Hill missionaries and the other that of the White Fathers. Together with our Society, The SMA (Society of Missions to Africa), the Verona F Fithers, the Consolata Fathers,
and the Holy Ghost Fathers, these form the founder members of the MIL. This semester, my lecture attendance is limited to Ethics (Philosophy), Pastoral psychology and Doctrine (Theology). All very interesting if mystifying at this stage. Together with the correspondence courses that we are continuing there is enough reading and essay writing to keep us fully occupied until the Christmas vacation ( 1975, of course - Ed.)
As my last article was a long one this is where I will end until the next time. May the peace that comes from God te Father in Christ Jesu be always with you. Hope to see some of you soon on a ramble. Meanwhile if anyone is in our neighbourhood I will welcome him or her and show off our home here
at 8 -10 Teignmouth Road, London NV12 4HN

LEO COSHAN, S.V.D.

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